Serba Dinamik sees positive outlook with digitalisation

KUALA LUMPUR: Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd is confident of its prospects on the back of increased digitalisation in its operations and management (O&M) segment which will bring about effective cost-savings.

O&M currently contributes about 86% to Serba Dinamik’s revenue as at end of financial year 2017.

Group chief executive officer Datuk Dr Mohd Abdul Karim Abdullah said the group will be spending about RM2 million this quarter on a proof of concept exercise to pilot digital services on a plant turnaround and routine maintenance management of the group’s PT Serba Dinamik Indonesia plant.

Serba Dinamik yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft APAC Digital Advisory Services to collaborate on this initiative that is expected to last 16 business weeks.

Microsoft will contribute by working together with the group on a digital transformation plan and digital innovation framework.

Abdul Karim said that by the first quarter of next year, the group expects to roll out the services as a commercial package to customers.

“We will do the educational drive from now till year-end. We need to educate our current and potential customers that there are digital platforms available which can help to reduce their costs,” he said at a press conference after the MoU signing.

When asked how much savings it would bring to customers, Abdul Karim said it varies.

“[In terms of savings], it varies from customer to customer. But they are sizeable enough to motivate the asset owner to engage this kind of capabilities,” he said.

Abdul Karim said it is important the company quickly embraces the technology of industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4) as other countries have already moved on to IR5.

Abdul Karim said while he is optimistic on the O&G industry moving forward, he also notes that Serba Dinamik intends to position itself strongly in other sectors such as power generation and water & utilities too.

Serba Dinamik’s shares closed up eight sen or 2.08% to RM3.92 with 4.97 million shares traded, for a market capitalisation of RM5.8 billion.